Les Misérables is a French novel written by Victor Hugo. It was first published on March 31, 1862, and is often called one of the greatest books of the 19th century. The story has been made popular through many versions, such as movies, TV shows, and plays, including a musical.

In English-speaking countries, the book is usually called by its original French name. Other names used in English include The Miserables, The Wretched, The Poor Ones, and The Victims. The story begins in 1815 and ends with the June Rebellion in Paris in 1832. It follows the lives of several characters, especially the journey of Jean Valjean, a former prisoner who seeks forgiveness and a better life.

The book explores many topics, such as the history of France, the buildings and city planning of Paris, politics, ideas about right and wrong, opposition to kings, justice, religion, and the different kinds of love between family members and romantic partners.

Hugo's sources

In 1829, Hugo saw an event involving three people and a police officer. One of the people was a man who had stolen a loaf of bread, like Jean Valjean, and was being taken to a coach by the officer. Nearby, a mother and daughter watched the thief. These two people inspired the characters Fantine and Cosette. Hugo imagined the life of the man in jail and the mother and daughter being separated.

Jean Valjean’s character is loosely based on the life of Eugène François Vidocq, a former prisoner. Vidocq later led a secret police group and started France’s first private detective agency. He was also a businessman and known for helping others and giving to charity. Vidocq also inspired characters in Hugo’s works, including "Claude Gueux" and "Le Dernier jour d'un condamné" (The Last Day of a Condemned Man).

In 1828, Vidocq, who had already been pardoned, saved a worker in his paper factory by lifting a heavy cart on his shoulders, similar to how Valjean helps someone in the story. Hugo’s description of Valjean rescuing a sailor on the Orion closely matches a letter written by Baron La Roncière about a similar event. Hugo used Bienvenu de Miollis, the Bishop of Digne during the time Valjean meets Myriel, as the model for Myriel.

Hugo used the departure of prisoners from the Bagne of Toulon in one of his early stories, "Le Dernier Jour d'un Condamné." He visited Toulon in 1839 to learn more about the prison and took detailed notes. He did not start writing the book until 1845. In one of his notes, he wrote the name "JEAN TRÉJEAN" in large letters as a possible name for his hero. When the book was written, Tréjean became Valjean.

In 1841, Hugo saved a prostitute from arrest for assault. He used part of his conversation with the police when describing Valjean’s rescue of Fantine in the novel. On February 22, 1846, while working on the novel, Hugo saw the arrest of a bread thief while a duchess and her child watched from their coach without showing mercy. He spent several vacations in Montreuil-sur-Mer.

During the 1832 revolt, Hugo walked through Paris and saw barricades blocking his path. He had to hide from gunfire. He took part more directly in the 1848 Paris insurrection, helping to break barricades and stop both the people’s revolt and its monarchist allies.

Victor Hugo got ideas from everything he heard and saw, writing them in his diary. In December 1846, he saw an argument between an old woman searching through trash and a street child who might have been Gavroche. He also visited the Paris Conciergerie in 1846 and Waterloo in 1861 to gather information. He studied industries and the wages and living conditions of working-class people. He asked his mistresses, Léonie d'Aunet and Juliette Drouet, to describe life in convents. He included personal stories in the plot. For example, Marius and Cosette’s wedding night in the novel (Part V, Book 6, Chapter 1) happens on February 16, 1833, the same date when Hugo and Juliette Drouet first shared a romantic moment.

Hugo also took inspiration from Eugène Sue’s novel "Les Mystères de Paris" (The Mysteries of Paris), which was published in 1842 and 1843. Both books look at life in Paris from the perspective of the poorest people, and "Les Misérables" borrowed some story elements from "Les Mystères de Paris."

Novel form

Upton Sinclair called the novel "one of the half-dozen greatest novels of the world" and noted that Victor Hugo explained the purpose of Les Misérables in the book’s preface.

At the end of the novel, Hugo describes the work’s main structure. The story follows several smaller plots, but the central story is about Jean Valjean, a former convict who becomes a good person but cannot escape his past as a criminal. The novel is divided into five volumes, each containing several books and chapters, totaling 48 books and 365 chapters. Most chapters are short, usually only a few pages long.

The novel is one of the longest ever written, with 655,478 words in the original French. Hugo shared his goals for the book with his Italian publisher.

More than a quarter of the novel—955 of 2,783 pages—includes essays that discuss moral ideas or show Hugo’s wide range of knowledge, but these essays do not move the story forward or even help develop smaller stories. Hugo used this method in other works, such as The Hunchback of Notre-Dame and Toilers of the Sea. One biographer said, “The digressions of genius are easily pardoned.” Topics covered in these essays include religious communities, the building of Paris’s sewers, slang, and the lives of street children. The section about convents is titled “Parenthesis” to signal that it is not connected to the main story.

Hugo also includes 19 chapters (Volume II, Book I) that describe and reflect on the Battle of Waterloo, a historical event. He visited the battlefield in 1861 and finished writing the novel there. This section begins Volume II with such a sudden change in subject that it seems like the start of a completely different book. Because this “digression” takes up so much space, it must be read in the context of the novel’s main structure. Hugo shares his own views, seeing Waterloo as a turning point in history but not a victory for traditional forces.

One critic called this section “the spiritual gateway” to the novel, as it introduces a chance meeting between Thénardier and Colonel Pontmercy, which hints at many of the novel’s later events that mix chance and necessity, as well as moments of heroism and villainy.

Even when focusing on the main story, Hugo sometimes interrupts the sequence of events, breaking from time and order. The novel begins with a description of the bishop of Digne in 1815 and then shifts: “Although these details in no way essentially concern that which we have to tell…” Only after 14 chapters does Hugo return to this opening thread, writing, “In the early days of the month of October 1815…”, to introduce Jean Valjean.

Characters

• Jean Valjean (also known as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, and Urbain Fabre) – The main character of the story. He was born in Faverolles, Aisne. He stole a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s seven hungry children and was sent to prison for five years. He was released after nineteen years in prison, which included twelve extra years from four failed escape attempts and two more years from fighting back during one escape. Society treated him poorly because he had been a prisoner. He met Bishop Myriel, who showed him kindness and encouraged him to change his life. One day, he put his shoe on a coin dropped by a boy and threatened the boy with a stick when the boy tried to wake him. He told a priest his name and the boy’s name, which led the police to accuse him of robbery. To avoid being sent back to prison, he changed his name to Monsieur Madeleine and started a new life. He invented new ways to make things and built factories, becoming one of the wealthiest people in his town. He was elected mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. He helped Fantine, gave himself up to the police to save another man, and rescued Cosette from the Thénardiers. He was discovered by Javert in Paris because he helped poor people, but he hid in a convent for years. He saved Marius from prison and death during a battle, told Marius and Cosette his true identity after their wedding, and reunited with them before he died. He kept his promises to the bishop and to Fantine, who was the last thing he saw before dying.

• Javert – A strict police officer who wanted to catch Valjean. He was born in a prison to a convict father and a fortune teller mother. He stopped being close to both parents and worked as a prison guard, including overseeing a group of prisoners that included Valjean. He saw Valjean’s strength and appearance firsthand. He later joined the police in Montreuil-sur-Mer. He arrested Fantine and argued with Valjean, who ordered him to release her. Valjean publicly dismissed Javert, and Javert sought revenge by reporting Valjean to the police. He was told that someone else had been arrested instead of Valjean. He asked Valjean to fire him in disgrace, saying he could not be unfair to others. When Valjean turned himself in, Javert was promoted to the Paris police force and arrested Valjean again. After Valjean escaped, Javert tried to catch him but failed. He almost caught Valjean at the Gorbeau House when he arrested the Thénardiers and Patron-Minette. Later, while working undercover during a battle, his identity was discovered. Valjean pretended to kill Javert but let him go. When Javert saw Valjean coming out of the sewers, he let him visit his home briefly before walking away. Javert struggled with his belief in the law and the idea that following the law was wrong. He wrote a letter about prison conditions and then jumped into the Seine to take his own life.

• Fantine – She was born in Montreuil-sur-Mer but moved to Paris as a teenager. She was left with a child by her lover, Félix Tholomyès. She left her daughter, Cosette, with the Thénardiers, who were innkeepers in Montfermeil. The Thénardiers treated their own children kindly but abused Cosette. Fantine found work at Monsieur Madeleine’s factory. She could not read or write, so others wrote her letters for her. A supervisor found out she was an unwed mother and fired her. To pay the Thénardiers, she sold her hair and teeth and became a prostitute. She became very sick. Valjean learned about her suffering when Javert arrested her for attacking a man who insulted her. He sent her to a hospital. She died from her illness and shock when Javert told her Valjean was a convict and had not brought Cosette to her.

• Cosette (formally Euphrasie, also known as "the Lark," Mademoiselle Lanoire, Ursula) – The daughter of Fantine and Tholomyès. From age three to eight, she was beaten and forced to work for the Thénardiers. After Fantine died, Valjean rescued her and raised her like his own daughter. Nuns in a Paris convent taught her. She grew up to be very beautiful. She fell in love with Marius Pontmercy and married him near the end of the story.

• Marius Pontmercy – A young law student who shared political ideas with his father. He had a difficult relationship with his royalist grandfather, Monsieur Gillenormand. He fell in love with Cosette and fought on the barricades when he thought Valjean had taken her to London. After marrying Cosette, he realized the Thénardiers were dishonest and paid them to leave France.

• Éponine (the Jondrette girl) – The older daughter of the Thénardiers. As a child, she was spoiled by her parents but became a street child when she grew up. She helped her father commit crimes and begged for money. She loved Marius deeply. At Marius’s request, she found Valjean and Cosette’s home and led him there. She also stopped her father and others from robbing the house during one of Marius’s visits. She disguised herself as a boy to trick Marius into joining the barricades, hoping to die with him. She tried to stop a soldier from shooting Marius, was seriously wounded, and told Marius everything before dying. She asked Marius to kiss her forehead after she died. He did so out of pity, not love.

• Monsieur Thénardier and Madame Thénardier (also known as the Jondrettes, M. Fabantou, M. Thénard. Some translations call her the Thenardiess) – A married couple with five children: two daughters, Éponine and Azelma, and three sons, Gavroche and two unnamed younger sons. As innkeepers, they abused Cosette as a child and forced Fantine to pay for her care. Valjean rescued Cosette and left them. They became poor and moved to Paris under the name Jondrette, living near Marius. The husband worked with a criminal group called Patron-Minette and planned to rob Valjean, but Marius stopped them. Javert arrested the couple. The wife died in prison. The husband tried to blackmail Marius with information about Valjean’s past, but Marius paid him to leave France. He later became a slave trader in the United States.

• Gavroche – The middle child and oldest son of the Thénardiers. He lived alone on the streets as a child and slept in the streets.

Plot

In 1815, a poor farmer named Jean Valjean was freed from 19 years in prison in the Bagne of Toulon. He was imprisoned for five years because he stole bread to feed his starving sister and her family, and for 14 more years because he tried to escape many times. After being released, he was turned away by innkeepers because his yellow passport showed he was a former prisoner. He slept outside, feeling angry and bitter.

A kind bishop named Myriel gave Valjean shelter. One night, Valjean stole silverware from Myriel’s home. When the police caught him, Myriel said he had given the silverware to Valjean and told him to take two silver candlesticks as well, pretending he had forgotten them. The police believed Myriel and left. Myriel told Valjean that his soul had been bought for God and that he should use the money from the candlesticks to become an honest man.

Valjean thought about Myriel’s words. Later, he stole a 40-sou coin from a 12-year-old boy named Petit Gervais and chased the boy away. He quickly felt guilty and searched the city for Gervais. At the same time, the theft was reported to the authorities. Valjean hid because if he was caught, he would be sent back to prison for life.

Six years later, Valjean, using the name Monsieur Madeleine, became a wealthy factory owner and was chosen as mayor of Montreuil-sur-Mer. One day, he saw a man named Fauchelevent trapped under a cart. No one else helped, so Valjean lifted the cart himself and freed Fauchelevent. Inspector Javert, who had worked at the Bagne of Toulon during Valjean’s imprisonment, noticed Valjean’s strength and became suspicious, thinking only Jean Valjean could do such a thing.

Earlier in Paris, a young woman named Fantine was in love with a man named Félix Tholomyès. His friends, Listolier, Fameuil, and Blachevelle, were also in love with Fantine’s friends, Dahlia, Zéphine, and Favourite. The men treated their relationships as games and left the women. Fantine had to care for her and Tholomyès’s daughter, Cosette, on her own. When Fantine arrived in Montfermeil, she left Cosette with the Thénardiers, a dishonest innkeeper and his cruel wife.

Fantine did not know the Thénardiers were mistreating Cosette and making her work for their inn. She kept trying to meet their growing demands for money. She was fired from her job at Valjean’s factory when her daughter was discovered, as Cosette was born out of wedlock. The Thénardiers kept asking for more money. In desperation, Fantine sold her hair and teeth and became a prostitute to pay them. She was slowly dying from an unknown illness.

A man named Bamatabois harassed Fantine in the street. She hit him, and Javert arrested her. Fantine begged to be released so she could care for Cosette, but Javert sentenced her to six months in prison. Valjean, as mayor, ordered Javert to free Fantine. He felt responsible for her because his factory had fired her. Valjean promised Fantine he would bring Cosette to her and took her to a hospital.

Javert visited Valjean again and told him he had reported Valjean’s real name to the French authorities. He said the authorities had found someone else, a man named Champmathieu, and planned to try him the next day. Valjean decided to reveal his identity to save Champmathieu. He went to the trial and told the truth. Valjean returned to Montreuil to see Fantine, followed by Javert, who confronted him in her hospital room.

After Javert grabbed Valjean, Valjean asked for three days to bring Cosette to Fantine, but Javert refused. Fantine learned Cosette was not at the hospital and worried about where she was. Javert told Fantine Valjean’s real name. Fantine, weak from her illness, fell into shock and died. Valjean spoke to Fantine in a whisper, kissed her hand, and left with Javert. Later, Fantine’s body was placed in a public grave.

Valjean escaped, was caught, and sentenced to death. The king changed his sentence to life in prison. While in the Bagne of Toulon, Valjean rescued a sailor trapped in a ship’s rigging. Spectators called for his release. Valjean faked his death by jumping into the ocean. Authorities reported him dead.

Valjean arrived in Montfermeil on Christmas Eve. He found Cosette fetching water alone and walked with her to the inn. He ordered a meal and saw the Thénardiers mistreat Cosette while pampering their own daughters, Éponine and Azelma. Valjean left and returned with a new doll for Cosette, who accepted it. The Thénardiers were angry, but their husband only cared about being paid.

The next morning, Valjean told the Thénardiers he wanted to take Cosette with him. Madame Thénardier agreed, but her husband pretended to care about Cosette. Valjean paid 1,500 francs and left with Cosette. Thénardier chased them, asking for a note from Fantine. Valjean gave him Fantine’s letter. Thénardier then demanded 1,000 crowns, but Valjean and Cosette left. Thénardier regretted not bringing his gun and went home.

Valjean and Cosette fled to Paris. Valjean rented a home at the Gorbeau House, where they lived happily. Javert discovered their location and tried to catch them. They found shelter at the Petit-Picpus convent with Fauchelevent, the man Valjean had once rescued. Valjean became a gardener, and Cosette studied at the convent school.

Eight years later, a group called the Friends of the ABC, led by Enjolras, planned an uprising against the government after the death of Lamarque, a general who supported the working class. The uprising was part of the 1832 Paris rebellion,

Contemporary reception

The release of the novel was much looked forward to because Victor Hugo was one of France’s most respected poets in the middle of the nineteenth century. The New York Times announced the book’s upcoming publication as early as April 1860. Hugo told his publishers not to summarize the story and refused to allow parts of it to be published before the full book was released. He advised them to build on his earlier success and suggested this idea: “What Victor H. did for the Gothic world in Notre-Dame de Paris (The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), he accomplishes for the modern world in Les Misérables.” A large advertising campaign happened before the first two volumes of Les Misérables were released in Brussels on 30 or 31 March and in Paris on 3 April 1862. The remaining volumes were published on 15 May 1862.

Reactions from critics were varied and often negative. Some said the story’s topics were immoral, others criticized its overly emotional tone, and others were troubled by its support for revolutionaries. L. Gauthier wrote in Le Monde on 17 August 1862, “One cannot read without an unconquerable disgust all the details Monsieur Hugo gives regarding the successful planning of riots.” The Goncourt brothers called the novel artificial and disappointing. Flaubert said he found “neither truth nor greatness” in it. He claimed the characters were simple, unoriginal figures who “speak very well – but all in the same way.” He called the work an “infantile” effort and ended Hugo’s career like “the fall of a god.” In a newspaper review, Charles Baudelaire praised Hugo for drawing public attention to social problems, though he believed such efforts were the opposite of art. In private, he called the book “repulsive and inept” (immonde et inepte).

The book was a commercial success and has remained popular since its publication. It was translated into several foreign languages the same year it appeared, including Italian, Greek, and Portuguese. It became popular not only in France but also across Europe and other countries.

English translations

• Charles E. Wilbour. New York: Carleton Publishing Company, June 1862. This was the first English version of the book. The first volume was sold in New York starting on June 7, 1862. It was also published in New York and London by George Routledge and Sons in 1879.
• Lascelles Wraxall. London: Hurst and Blackett, October 1862. This was the first British version of the book.
• Translator identified as "A.F." Richmond, Virginia, 1863. Published by West and Johnston. The Editor's Preface stated that this version would fix mistakes in Wilbour's translation. It removed some passages that were only for French readers and some sentences that criticized slavery, explaining that Southern readers would not mind losing these parts. Due to wartime paper shortages, more passages were left out in later volumes.
• Isabel Florence Hapgood. Published in 1887, this version is available online at Project Gutenberg.
• Norman Denny. Folio Press, 1976. A modern British version later reprinted in paperback by Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-044430-0. The translator explains in an introduction that two long sections were moved to appendices, and some small parts of the text were shortened.
• Lee Fahnestock and Norman McAfee. Signet Classics, March 3, 1987. This is a complete version based on Wilbour's translation, with the language updated for modern readers. Paperback ISBN 0-451-52526-4.
• Julie Rose. 2007. Vintage Classics, July 3, 2008. A new full version of the book, including a detailed biography of Victor Hugo, a timeline, and notes. ISBN 978-0-09-951113-7.
• Christine Donougher. Penguin Classics, November 7, 2013. A new full version of the book, including a detailed biography of Victor Hugo, a timeline, and notes. ISBN 978-0141393599.

Adaptations

Since its first publication, Les Misérables has been adapted in many forms of media, including books, films, musicals, plays, and games.

Some well-known adaptations include:

• A 1934 French film directed by Raymond Bernard and starring Harry Baur, Charles Vanel, Florelle, Josseline Gaël, and Jean Servais
• A 1935 film directed by Richard Boleslawski and starring Fredric March and Charles Laughton. This film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Film Editing, and Best Assistant Director
• A 1937 radio adaptation by Orson Welles
• A 1952 film directed by Lewis Milestone and starring Michael Rennie and Robert Newton
• A 1958 film directed by Jean-Paul Le Chanois, featuring an international cast including Jean Gabin, Bernard Blier, and Bourvil. This version was called the most memorable film adaptation and was filmed in East Germany. It clearly showed political ideas
• A 1978 television film starring Richard Jordan and Anthony Perkins
• A 1980 musical created by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg
• A 1982 film directed by Robert Hossein and starring Lino Ventura and Michel Bouquet
• A 1995 film directed by Claude Lelouch and starring Jean-Paul Belmondo
• A 1998 film starring Liam Neeson and Geoffrey Rush
• A 2000 television miniseries starring Gérard Depardieu and John Malkovich
• A 2007 television anime adaptation by Nippon Animation
• A 2010 concert performance at the O2 Arena starring Alfie Boe, Norm Lewis, Samantha Barks, and Lea Salonga
• A 2012 film adaptation of the musical starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway, and Amanda Seyfried
• A 2018 British television series by Andrew Davies, starring Dominic West, David Oyelowo, and Lily Collins

• In 1995, a book titled Cosette: The Sequel to Les Misérables by Laura Kalpakian was published. It continues the story of Cosette and Marius but is more like a sequel to the musical than the original novel.
• In 2001, two French novels by François Cérésa were published. These books continue Victor Hugo’s story and include characters such as Javert, who survives his suicide attempt and becomes religious, and Thénardier, who returns from America. Marius is unfairly imprisoned in the story. The books led to a lawsuit that was not successful, involving Hugo’s great-great-grandson.